News

Port's history in images and words

24.10.2017

The compendium which was published by the Port of Koper to mark its 60th anniversary was yesterday presented to the public.

The event took place at the Koper Theatre and was moderated by Vesna Humar, journalist at Primorske novice newspaper and compendium’s author and editor. Her co-speakers were Boris Šuligoj, journalist at Delo newspaper who has followed and reported on the developments in the Port of Koper over the last decades, and Rok Svetek, president of the Transport Association at the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who boasts wide experience in the field of logistics.

In addition to presenting the Port’s history, the anniversary publication unveils the stories of the people who used to live with the port. At the same time, it presents the social-, economic- and environmental points of view of a series of reputable experts. Among those who have helped to bring the compendium into being were the historian Borut Klabjan, the shipbuilding engineer Franco Cossutta, the professor Livij Jakomin, the economist Bogomir Kovač, the biologist Robert Turk, the ship broker Zlatan Čok, the president of the Trieste Port Authority Zeno d’Agostino, the former Port of Koper’s director Bruno Korelič and the journalists Drago Mislej – Mef and Jure Tepina, the latter also grandson of the first Port of Koper’s director Danilo Petrinja. Vesna Humar, author of the compendium, admitted that it was impossible for her to include only one testimony: “I was particularly touched by the stories of simple people, of those who used to carry the port’s building material on oxen-driven carts; who drove onboard heavy trucks along the Črni kal curves to get to the port and see a banana or an orange for the first time in the port’s warehouse, or those who drove to the port from far away to get their first washing machine. I was also touched by the emotions and feelings of educated, instructed and successful people who made their fortune abroad but due to some strange reason, would return again and again to their home port. The assertion that people are the Port’s greatest assets is far from being just a florid expression.”

The compendium, written in both Slovene and English language, is not available for purchase. The Port of Koper will proudly give it as a gift to its business partners and all stakeholders who over the last sixty years have contributed to the accession of the Port of Koper among the most successful European ports.